NEWARK, NJ—Professors Karen D’Alonzo and D. Anthony “Tony” Forrester have been selected as fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. They will be inducted into the academy at its national meeting to be held October 16-18, 2014, in Washington, D.C.
Selection for fellowship in the Academy is one of the most prestigious honors in the nursing profession. The organization is composed of more than 2,200 nurse leaders in education, management, practice, policy, and research selected for their extraordinary contributions to nursing and their positive influence on health policy and health outcomes. New fellows will be eligible to use the credentials FAAN (Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing) after their induction.
D’Alonzo, a resident of Somerville, is associate professor and associate dean of the PhD in Nursing program at Rutgers College of Nursing. She is widely recognized for her focus on involving community members in research and program development to improve health and well-being in their own communities.
She has conducted groundbreaking work with promotoras, lay Hispanic/Latino community health workers, who are trained to provide basic health education to their neighbors and help them to access health resources.
Her pilot research study involving promotora-led community activity classes aimed at improving fitness and health among participating immigrant Latinas was subsequently sponsored by the Mexican Consulate in New York City and Lazos America Unida, a Mexican-American community organization. The study helped to identify significant mental health factors that influence Hispanic women’s ability to participate in physical activity.
A leader in efforts to standardize and recognize the role of promotoras/community health workers in New Jersey through a statewide certification program, D’Alonzo has partnered with the National Alliance for Mental Illness to train men as promotores to address depression among the state’s immigrant Mexican men. She has also developed academic partnerships between Rutgers University and two nursing programs in Mexico to enhance bi-national education and global research.
Forrester, of Califon, is professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs and administration at Rutgers School of Nursing and clinical professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. His work has supported the global fight against HIV/AIDS. He is known as a “leader of leaders” for his international role in helping to prepare nurse educators for leadership and helped shaped the landscape of nursing education in New Jersey as a founding administrator and faculty member at the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Nursing (now Rutgers School of Nursing).
He has contributed to curriculum, policy, and program development for health initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, which have helped to significantly reduce maternal-to-child HIV-transmission rates and to decrease the rate of new HIV infections and HIV/AIDS-related deaths. He has also spearheaded development of an international mission trip program for nursing students, nursing faculty, and other health professionals that has provided free health care to thousands of residents of impoverished communities in the Dominican Republic.
He has published extensively on a variety of nursing and interdisciplinary health topics, including critical care family needs, minority men’s and women’s health, physical restraints management, and prevention of falls in the acute care setting. As the lead faculty expert for the Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy (NFLA) sponsored by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Forrester established an international program that has received continuous corporate funding for seven years. The NFLA is building leadership skills and career satisfaction and improving retention among faculty scholars while promoting supportive work environments in nursing education. Forrester is a fellow in the National League for Nursing’s Academy of Nursing Education.
"The American Academy of Nursing welcomes this stellar cohort of 168 new fellows,” declared Academy president Diana Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN. “As clinicians, researchers, educators, executives, and leaders in all sectors of our society, they are joining the nation's thought leaders in nursing and health care."
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Rutgers School of Nursing
The new Rutgers School of Nursing educates more than 1850 students in Newark, New Brunswick, and Blackwood, NJ. Offering a full range of academic programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, post-master’s and doctoral degree levels, as well as multiple continuing education programs for nurses and other health care professionals, Rutgers School of Nursing is the largest, most comprehensive nursing education program in the state.
The new Rutgers School of Nursing is a reinvented institution formed by the merger of two Rutgers nursing programs, the College of Nursing and the School of Nursing, effective July 1, 2014. Built upon combined strengths and decades of accomplishments, the new Rutgers School of Nursing is positioned for leading-edge advances in nursing education, science and clinical practice.